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On the frequently reported negative statistics about the Ohio economy:
Well I do think people are trying to be negative when they mention those numbers. They talk about wage loss or job loss in manufacturing, which is the only sector in Ohio that lost jobs in the last three years. There's been a net increase of 75,000 jobs and yet the statistic that people want to talk about is the 4,500 loss in manufacturing.

We've had several quarters of very robust growth, and we've had a lower net unemployment rate in Ohio than the average in (the last three decades). I think there are a lot of reasons why people are less secure than they used to be. The economy is more competitive than it ever has been, and there's lots of international pressure. So if you're not on top of your game your employer may in fact have to make cutbacks and that has not been the 50-year history of our state. We've been more stable than that but the truth of the matter is that's the status of the international economy.

On working to attract the new Honda plant to Ohio:
Honda is one of the great success stories of our state. Twenty-five years ago they started with fewer than 100 employees; they now have 16,000 direct manufacturing jobs. There's another 50,000 people in this state who directly attribute their job to being engaged in Honda suppliers. They're looking (at Ohio) again because they're very impressed with our work force, our infrastructure and the (business) climate they see here in our state.

We don't know where Honda's going to make its selection. Our job is to give them the best possible sites in Ohio and let them make a business decision. There will be 150 suppliers in Ohio that will benefit because they've made a decision already to locate a plant in the Midwest. More than three-quarters of all the counties in Ohio have at least one Honda supplier. So everybody's regional economy will grow because this company has decided to spend another billion dollars or so by the time it's all over on creating vehicles in the Midwest. It would be better if it landed in Ohio but this is good news for Ohio either way.

On why rural Ohioans help attract business to the state:
The rural work force loves the opportunity to go into the plant and make a high quality living by putting in another 40 hours; God knows they work hard enough but an awful lot of them are working also in the various manufacturing facilities. Honda is a perfect example. They just love Ohio's rural work force. Why? Because they're self-starters, because they're used to working hard, because once they learn something they don't have to be told 12 times get back in there, relearn it.

On the need to speed up the permitting process for business
We're making great strides in some areas of regulatory reform. We'd obviously like all our permitting processes to be faster and so we've worked at trying to reduce how much time, energy and effort it takes to approve some of these permits. But frankly some of these permits shouldn't be approved. You can't suggest that every environmental plan that comes forward from industry be approved. You have to look at the details you have to insist on the best quality of life for all Ohioans and that includes protecting the environment. So there's a balance, and we're very competitive with our regional neighbors on approval of high quality permits that are submitted to the state of Ohio including EPA permits.

Caption: The work ethic of rural Ohioans is a big attraction to manufacturers as they consider where to expand or build new facilities, Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson (right) told Town Hall Ohio listeners. He was joined by Keith Stimpert of OFBF during the June 11 broadcast. The program can be listened to or downloaded at www.townhallohio.org. Photo by Natalie Walston